1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to the field of illumination for residential and commercial structures. In particular, to the use of rain gutters and similar structural elements for decorative illumination.
2. Description of the Related Art
Commercial and residential buildings are usually decorated in some fashion. While illumination is generally a practical element of a structure, lighting also serves a dual role as décor. The décor of a structure often varies through the seasons, holidays, and during special events, and specialized lighting may be used to augment these variations in décor. In particular, it is a nearly universal practice in the United States to decorate both the interior and exterior of practically any structure with strings of small lights during the Christmas season.
For exterior lighting, specialized lighting is often hung from the rain gutters attached to the home or other structure. Attaching lighting to a rain gutter is particularly desirable because the linear design of a rain gutter, combined with its usual location along the edges of roof surfaces, creates a bright, aesthetically-pleasing affect by highlighting the major surfaces of the building and drawing attention to the structure. The lights are meant to inspire in both the decorator and viewer a sense of mirth and warmth, despite the cold weather and short winter days.
However, rain gutters are a particularly difficult structural element to decorate because the gutter is designed to channel water, not accept decorations. Rain gutters are designed to support the relatively evenly-distributed weight of water flowing through the gutter trough and, in particular, the side walls of the rain gutter are designed to withstand the relatively low lateral pressure of parallel water flow, and not to support an amount of weight attached at any one point. Further, the time of year when people most wish to decorate rain gutters—winter—is the very time of year that gutters tend to be under the greatest stress, caused by the presence of ice or snow in the gutter trough. Thus, to avoid damaging the gutter or the item being hung from it, decorators avoid the use of heavy decorations on rain gutters.
Also, the materials used in rain gutter construction present problems. While rain gutters can be constructed from a wide variety of materials, ranging from steel to wood to concrete, most modern rain gutters are made from light metals and plastics, such as aluminum and vinyl. These materials are smooth and have low coefficients of friction, which makes it difficult to attach decorations or use adhesives. The decorator also cannot get around this by drilling holes in the gutters because the holes lower the overall structural strength of the gutter and impair the rain gutter's ability to capture and channel water. Additionally, rain gutters are a highly visible structural element and a rain gutter full of visible punctures gives the entire structure the undesirable appearance of a ramshackle, poorly-maintained building, lowering property and/or lease value.
Thus, decorators are confined to hanging only very light decorations from rain gutters, such as strings of small Christmas lights, and they do so using specialized equipment, such as light plastic or metal clips that attach to the nose of the gutter and provide a projection from which to hang the light string. In order to present the desirable linear appearance in the string of lights, many dozens of these clips must be attached closely together to preventing sagging in the light strings. In practical terms, this means the decorator must spend a significant amount of time balanced at the top of a ladder or precariously perched at the edge of the roof in order to attach these clips and hang the lights from them and then to take them all down again when the holiday season has passed.
For structures with high eaves, this task is particularly dangerous, and falls can result in serious injury. The Center for Disease Control reports that from 2000 to 2003 alone, more than 15,000 people were treated in emergency rooms for fall-related injuries sustained while hanging Christmas decorations. [CDC Fall-Related Injuries During the Holiday Season (2004)]. While Christmas is the primary season for decorating rain gutters, lights for other seasons, notably Halloween, are becoming more common, adding to the risk of injury and damage.
There are few practical methods for decorating a rain gutter, and the available methods are fraught with risk to the decorator, the rain gutter, the decorations, and the building. Thus, rain gutter décor is generally confined to the creative possibilities available with a lightweight string of lights, such as the popular “icicle” affect. Further, the hassle and hazard of decorating rain gutters even with these light strings is serious enough that a market has emerged for small businesses whose sole service offering is to hang and remove Christmas lights. Finally, even though these strings of lights are attractive at night, during the day time the dark wires are highly visible and visually unappealing.